Heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) writers have been developed to meet the growing demand for improved magnetic disk drive data capacity. HAMR writers heat high-stability magnetic compounds to apply changes in magnetic orientation. These materials can store bits in a much smaller areas without being limited by the superparamagnetic effect. The manufacture of HAMR writers may be improved by carefully controlling the lapped pin length, the distance from the air-bearing surface (ABS) to the intersection of the Near-Field Transducer (NFT) pin and NFT disc (or disk).